Posts from — November 2008

Worksite Wellness Program Advantages still aren’t self-evident to some executives, even though the research, real-world evidence and cost-benefit analyses are demonstrative. With careful planning, almost every corporation can reap Worksite Wellness Program Advantages.

Part of the problem is that some executives erroneously believe that the Worksite Wellness Program Advantages are mostly on the worker side. The truth is that Worksite Wellness Program Advantages both the company and worker - and according to Worksite Wellness Program statistics , the employer stands to gain $2.30 to $10.10 in savings per dollar spent. Employee fitness saves corporations money.

At the same time, healthcare and insurance costs continue to skyrocket. Worksite Wellness Program Advantages are one of the only ways to cut those costs while helping workers at the same time. As Karen Roberts, senior vice president with Aon Consulting, said about Worksite Wellness Program Advantages in her address at the 2006 WorldAtWork Total Rewards Conference & Exhibition, “If you can’t afford to invest in wellness this year, you’re never going to afford it.”

Worksite Wellness Program Advantages include helping to prevent cancer, obesity, heart disease and hypertension. It’s rare that businesses can cut costs and assist struggling workers, support families and even arguably save lives. Isn’t that a good thing?

Employee Health Testing means better heath risk assessment baselines and better security

“Employee Health Testing” is a hot phrase these days, but it can help your staff members with health management, too. When the pundits talk about Employee Health Testing, they’re usually referring to retinal scanners, fingerprint readers, and other high-tech security measures. However, if you trace the phrase “Employee Health Testing” back to its roots, it refers to the measurement of unique human physical and behavioral characteristics.

Corporate Wellness Programs are of imperative importance to the modern business. As a result, Employee Health Testing should be one of the tools in the arsenal of a forward-thinking organization.

Workplace Health Testings aren’t just a “feel-good” measure for your workers. Assessments of worker health help your workers to prioritize their well-being, which results in happier, more productive workers. Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) also build your database of worker biometric data. Employee Health Testing, when handled on-site by our experienced professionals, is hassle-free and smoothly organized. The biometric data we collect then can be stored digitally for years or even decades, helping you and your staff members build better health risk assessment baselines that you can use to analyze staff members fitness and the efficacy of your corporation’s Health and Productivity Programs. Collected biometric data can even allow an worker’s doctor to assess that person’s health over many years, helping him or her spot trends and diagnose disease.

Employee Health Testing extends to a wide variety of health risk tests, including measurements of blood pressure, blood type, body fat, substance abuse, and susceptibility to cardiovascular disease. Collecting biometric data for security purposes - like fingerprints, facial recognition imprints, or hand geometry - can be dovetailed with our health tests to minimize workflow disruption.

Corporate Wellness Programs: A Long-Term Committment

“Corporate Wellness Programs” - what does that phrase mean to you? To many of us, it evokes an array of ambivalent thoughts — the health club membership we barely used, the nagging ankle injury from last year’s corporation picnic, the backaches, the bratwurst we had for lunch, the love handles and of course, the fad diets that failed us or that we failed. Usually, Corporate Wellness Programs is a guilt trigger that causes us to feel remorse about our bodies and the health management we know we should be doing for them.

Unfortunately we live in a society where our survival is dependent on sitting at a desk, not hunting game, picking berries and sprinting away from wolves. We also live in such luxury, nutritionally, that we can gain weight steadily without being wealthy. Cardiovascular disease, obesity and poor dietary habits cause most of the heath issues that weigh down worker attendance and erode a corporation’s productivity.

Ironically the poorest societies in the world - the ones furthest from the conveniences of modern life - often boast the fittest, most physically hardy members. And as for the animal kingdom — don’t look there for commiseration. In the wild, it is extremely rare to find an animal that suffers from our kind of wellness issues.

Pharmaceutical dependency degrades Health and Wellness

It doesn’t help that United States citizens are descending into a deadly love affair with drugs — and drug testing won’t help you with these drugs.

For example, Greg Critser’s book Generation RX details how United States citizens spend about $180 billion dollars on Pharmaceuticals annually, with the estimated 2011 tally at a whopping $414 billion. The average number of Pharmaceuticals per American in 2004 stood at twelve.

Twelve! That means that your average worker is taking 14, 18, or even more than 20 medications in an attempt to enhance their Health and Wellness.

Is this effective, though? Critser is not convinced that the drugs help U.S. health. In fact, he points out a bevy of negative consequences for America’s legal prescription drug addition, which include prescription drug interactions, liver damage, and the legions of people who now depend on drugs to deal with ordinary trials and stresses.

An company has the potential to enhance Health

It’s not all bad news, though. Occupational Health Testings and well-designed Corporate Wellness Programs can help you fight the downward spiral for you and your staff members. In fact, good Corporate Wellness Programs - like a strong walking Corporate Wellness Programs initiative - can literally save lives and reduce the symptoms that cause workers to turn to drugs in the first place.

Health Risk Assessment: Helping Quantify Employee Health help you quantify worker health

An Health Risk Assessment Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) is an important tool to help you isolate the value of strong Worksite Wellness Program Programs.

Health Risk Assessment: What is it?

Does the term “Health Risk Assessment” have you puzzled? If so, then you are not alone.  Unfortunately there is no universal standard definition or format for a Health Risk Assessment. A health risk assessment is both a procedure and a document, too, depending on the context — you must answer questions and ideally undergo some simple Employee Health Testing to develop a document that describes what’s good and bad about your current state of health.

To add confusion to the situation, there’s a field called health risk management. Talk to an OSHA inspector about health risk assessment and they will likely assume you’re referring to an analysis of contaminants and industrial chemicals in a factory or manufacturing facility.

Health Risk Assessment: The Typical Health Risk Assessment

A comprehensive health risk assessment is aimed at producing a concrete baseline of a person’s health, and includes most of these features:

• a blood pressure check,
• cancer testing,
• blood sugar test, and
• a analysis of the worker’s health status.

Health Risk Assessments (HRAs) would analyze the worker’s:

• lifestyle factors,
• medical conditions,
• prescriptions,
• functional concerns and abilities,
• quality of life,
• self-efficacy,
• fitness level.

Wellness Fair activities put the spotlight on Corporate Wellness Programs

A Wellness Fair is a excellent way to shake your staff members out of the doldrums and into better awareness of their health and wellness. A Wellness Fair brings your organization together to discuss Corporate Wellness Programs, examine Health Insurance and “cafeteria” plans, explore health savings accounts, publicize Worksite Wellness Program Programs and share success stories and challenges.

Some common Wellness Fair desired outcomes include:

better awareness of the health services and resources available to workers, both from their company and from local, state, regional and national health services;
increased motivation for improving health behavior
increased participation in Corporate Wellness Programs, commuter and carshare programs and health savings accounts
better awareness of person health status through Health Testings, Wellness Fair activities, displays, handouts, and demonstrations, and
better information on what workers are seeking from their company’s health management initiatives, and which workers are interested in participating.

Planning a Wellness Fair

Planning a Wellness Fair is a lot like beginning an Worksite Wellness Program on a smaller scale. Just like an Corporate Wellness Program, your Wellness Fair will need publicity, logistical planning, programming, targeted goals, in-house marketing and of course, executive approval. Festive touches like free food, kid-friendly activities, live music, art displays, talent shows and other community-minded fun will help cement the appeal of your Wellness Fair and ensure that the Wellness Fair becomes a welcomed, annual event.

You can find some Wellness Fair planning tips at the Family and Consumer Sciences site of Texas A&M University. These Wellness Fair tips are aimed more at community and non-profit organizers, but you can discover many useful Wellness Fair ideas at the site.

Wellness Fairs and Worksite Wellness Program Recruitment

Many Worksite Wellness Program planners find that Wellness Fairs are the primary reason why workers sign up for walking Corporate Wellness Programs, health savings accounts and other pro-Corporate Wellness Programs.

Don’t forget - not only do workers value these programs highly, but the increased energy and decreased sick leave associated with Corporate Wellness Programs also saves your corporation money. The Worksite Wellness Program Statistics are clear - healthier businesses work harder and pay less in Health Insurance premiums.

Corporate Wellness Programs: The Grand Slam

Corporate Wellness Programs are as close to a grand slam proposition as you’ll find, according to most researchers and Worksite Wellness Program experts.

But if you have skeptics in your corporation who are questioning the time and cost of beginning an Corporate Wellness Program, you may be wary too. Aren’t worker Corporate Wellness Programs subject to the adage “There’s no such thing as a free lunch”?

Corporate Wellness Programs Don’t Have To Be Costly

Fortunately, worker Corporate Wellness Programs don’t require a big investment. Like any other company project, mismanagement and “death by committee” can inflate the cost of Corporate Wellness Programs, but it’s hard to spend too much time and money on them. After all, Corporate Wellness Programs are mostly informational in nature. Flyers, e-mails, maps, and Worksite Wellness Program Wellness Fairs can only cost so much. There’s no expensive, specialized Worksite Wellness Program machinery.

Worksite Wellness Program statistics on successful programs are particularly persuasive. Unlike many cost-saving measures, Corporate Wellness Programs actually add to worker satisfaction - but they also reduce Health Insurance premiums and worker absenteeism.

What are some common Corporate Wellness Programs?

Corporate Wellness Programs run the gamut, depending on your workplace demographic, from exercise for health patients to nutritional initiatives that encourage workers to replace unhealthy snack foods with healthy fare like dried fruit and shelled nuts.

Here are some examples of Corporate Wellness Programs:

• ergonomic safety
• cardiovascular disease education and testing
• worker safety
• Health Risk Assessments (HRAs)
• walking Corporate Wellness Programs
• drug testing

Maintaining Worksite Wellness Program during Cold Season can be a challenge for any corporation. The average adult can get up to four colds in one year, and hundreds of thousands are hospitalized every year for flu complications. From December to March, there are more workers out of the office due to illness, and others who barely made it to the office and can hardly think over their constant coughing and sneezing.

Corporate Wellness Program: Prevention is the Key

Prevention is the key to maintaining good health in the workplace and increasing overall Corporate Wellness Program. Fighting infection after the cold and flu epidemics hit is a losing battle and can best be combated with early action, such as implementing a Worksite Wellness Program Program at the worksite for good health all year long.

Keeping the Office Germ-free During Cold Season

The typical office is the perfect breeding grounds for influenza or the cold virus. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says that there are higher chances for the spread of infection during winter because people spend more time indoors. In an office, this risk is increased by cubicles, bringing many people into a close space. Workplace Health Testings conducted regularly as part of an overall health management program will increase the chances of Worksite Wellness Program year round, and especially during Cold Season.

Education Can Increase Worksite Wellness Program During Cold Season

Educating workers about various ways to stay healthy during Cold Season may help prevent the spread of any sickness to the entire office. Hand washing is a crucial component in maximizing Corporate Wellness Program, as bacteria collects on keyboards, mouses, around the water cooler and next to the community coffee pot. As workers shake hands, infection may be passed, multiplying the chance of getting a cold or coming down with the flu. Hand washing and anti-bacterial cleaners for surfaces can help reduce the spread of sickness.

Worksite Wellness Program is possible during Cold Season. With Corporate Wellness Program, your office can reach one step closer to immunity from sickness during Cold Season.

Worksite Wellness Program Study Shows Millions Lost Due to Illness

Worksite Wellness Program was shown to be a huge economic boon for businesses in a recently-released joint report by  the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Nearly three million productive workers in labor markets worldwide add up to a lot of money. The Worksite Wellness Program research study estimates that China will lose $558 billion, India $237 billion, and Russia $303 billion in national income from 2005 to 2015 due to only three chronic diseases: heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Lack of Worksite Wellness Program A “Huge Expense”

The U.S. Center for Disease Control also reports that chronic disease accounts for approximately 75 percent of yearly worker healthcare costs in the U.S., which constitutes a huge expense for businesses. And the Public Health Foundation of India estimates that its country will lose 18 million potentially productive years of life by 2030, a statistic no nation can afford, let alone a developing one.

Corporate Wellness Programs the Answer

A sustainable solution to these challenges cannot be solved by medical benefits alone. Workplace commitments to Worksite Wellness Program are also crucial. Companies are advised to begin on-site Health Testings for their workers, as well as look into a comprehensive health management program. These and other precautions are good secret weapons against the economic pitfall of unhealthy workers.

Wellness might be the fatal flaw in your Corporate Wellness Program. Is Wellness part of your strategy? Does workplace wellness stop when your workers leave the office?

Wellness Continuity

If workers don’t have the tools to pursue health and wellness on a Personal level, then it becomes easy for them to “fall off the wagon” and slide back into a unealthy lifestyles. If you have a walking program, for example, it should encourage workers to build walking routes near their homes, perhaps with the cooperation of the neighborhood association or coworkers who live in the neighborhood.

Corporate Wellness Programs: Always on Your Mind

Your Worksite Wellness Program coordinator should have “vacation wellbeing” as part of their job description. In other words, you don’t want a Worksite Wellness Program to stop at the boundaries of the workplace campus. Instead, integrate Personal health and wellness with your Corporate Wellness Programs.

This will benefit the Corporate Wellness Programs in two ways:

it lowers the chance that the worker will come back to the office feeling unfit, overwhelmed and unable to resume their Corporate Wellness Programs; and
it shows that their company is just as invested in their Personal health and wellness as they are

Like a marathon, Personal health and wellness is a long-term venture and it’s difficult for anyone to do in isolation. Simply put, it’s easier to maintain your health when you know others are depending on you and watching your Personal performance. It’s easier to maintain to an physical activity program when you have a jogging partner who wakes you up when you oversleep, or spots you when you’re lifting weights.

Similarly, it’s easier to maintain to your Worksite Wellness Program when you know your company is supporting you and wishing you the best.

Don’t Dictate Personal Health

Just as Wellness surveys serve a vital function in building a Corporate Wellness Program, it’s critical that you involve workers in designing an off-site wellness strategy. No one enjoys being told what to do, but everyone enjoys having assistance in tacking tough problems. Make it clear that workers are in charge of their own health and wellness. Your role as their health management partner is to support, advise, counsel, provide resources and information.

Of course, don’t forget that part of Personal health and wellness responsibility is to provide good health risk assessment baselines so workers can proceed safely on the road to better fitness.

Corporate Wellness Programs: An Attainable Goal

Was Wellness on your corporation’s new year’s resolutions list? Here we are a little over midway into the third month of 2008, the time when resolutions start to falter if they haven’t lost momentum completely. Has your Worksite’s wellness resolution fallen by the wayside? If so, there are still ways to get back on track.

One Wellness tip comes to us from the YMCA of Greater Des Moines, reported from the Jersey Shore. Rod Shirk, the YMCA’s chief financial officer, participated in the organization’s first executive Corporate Wellness Program, which registered his cholesterol as higher than normal. That prompted him to get a physical, which showed high levels of a PSA (prostate-specific antigen) that often indicates prostate cancer. The outcome? His doctors caught a life-threatening illness just in time.

Thanks Corporate Wellness Program.

So of course, Shirk is a huge proponent of Corporate Wellness Programs. He says, “For us here at the YMCA, if we are telling people to be healthy, we had better set a good example for our workers.”

Wellness Decreases Health Care Costs

Though cases like Shirk’s dramatic cancer save are the most desirable effect of Corporate Wellness Programs, it isn’t the initial draw for corporations. They do it to lower healthcare costs, and there’s no doubt that Corporate Wellness Programs do just that. Worksite Wellness Program Statistics show that Corporate Wellness Programs return anywhere from $2.30 to $10.10 per dollar spent on wellness. “Health care costs should go down as people think about changing their diets and getting more active,” Shirk says.

The Worksite Wellness Program savings aren’t just in the Health Insurance department. Human resource departments report that Corporate Wellness Programs also reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.

Still, businesses have been loath to invest that elusive Wellness dollar despite the well-documented returns. A Principal Financial Group and Harris Interactive survey found that only 10% of small- to medium-size corporations have made on-site Health Testings - like the one that saved Shirk’s life - available to their workers.